GIGABYTE Launches Full Range of 9 Series Z97 and H97 Motherboards

[Cristian_25H]

GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd., a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards today launched their new 9 series motherboards based on the Intel Z97/H97 chipsets with support for 4th and 5th generation Intel Core processors.

"GIGABYTE is excited to launch 4 new series of motherboards for the Intel 9 series chipset, each offering a host of new and unique GIGABYTE features matched with GIGABYTE signature quality and durability," commented Henry Kao, Vice President of GIGABYTE Motherboard Business Unit. "Our 9 series motherboards also offer a future proof platform to our customers by supporting the latest 4th generation Intel Core processors including the soon to launch refresh and unlocked CPUs, as well as future 5th generation Intel Core processors, ensuring they will be able to take advantage of current and upcoming Intel technologies."





GIGABYTE G1 Gaming Motherboards
GIGABYTE 9 series G1 gaming motherboards were designed to deliver top-notch features that matter most to gamers. From incorporating industry-leading GIGABYTE AMP-UP Audio technologies that allow gamers and audiophiles to experience crisp, ultra sound effects while gaming and the richest possible sound experience while listening to their favorite music and movies, to ultra-fast onboard Gigabit LAN solutions from Killer and Intel, GIGABYTE G1 motherboards were designed for gamers that aren't satisfied with second best.

With a full range of top-to-bottom G1 gaming motherboards including the compact, yet powerful Z97N-Gaming 5 Mini-ITX motherboard, GIGABYTE has a gaming motherboard suited for any type of gamer, no matter what type of game they play. Featuring the distinctive G1 detailing and sexy new red and black styling, GIGABYTE G1 motherboards are sure to make gamers stand out from the horde.

GIGABYTE SOC (Super OverClocking) Motherboards
Following the success of the GIGABYTE Z87X-OC motherboard, the #1 most overclocked motherboard on HWBOT.org in 2013, GIGABYTE has unleashed 2 new Z97 chipset-based overclocking motherboards, the Z97X-SOC FORCE and Z97X-SOC. With a host of unique OC features and bleeding-edge hardware design, GIGABYTE 9 series overclocking motherboards will allow even novice users to 'Overclock Like a Pro'.

GIGABYTE Ultra Durable Black Edition Motherboards
As the undisputed leader of motherboard quality and durability, GIGABYTE has set out to show just how tough their motherboards are with the launch of their new Ultra Durable Black Edition motherboards. Each individual GIGABYTE Black Edition motherboard has undergone an extra 168 hours (7 days) of server-grade full system testing at our new state-of-the-art testing facility at the GIGABYTE Nanping, Taiwan factory to ensure every board delivers on its promise of Ultra Durability.

GIGABYTE Black Edition motherboard owners who register online and join the GIGABYTE Black Edition Members Club where they will receive exclusive member benefits including an additional 1 year warranty program for their motherboard.



GIGABYTE Ultra Durable Motherboards
GIGABYTE 9 series Ultra Durable motherboards bring together a unique blend of features and technologies that offer users the absolute ultimate platform for their next PC build. With features normally reserved for more expensive motherboards including the latest next generation transfer technologies such as SATA Express and M.2, exclusive high-end audio features advanced gaming networking, gold plated hardware connectors and killer good looks, GIGABYTE 9 series Ultra Durable motherboards are in a class of their own.



For more details regarding GIGABYTE 9 series motherboards, please go to:
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/list.aspx?s=42&jid=0&p=2&v=31

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[micropage7]

nice looking boards and they look like pushing their audio seriously

 

[Hilux SSRG]

That's a good amount of boards. In particular the GA-Z97X-UD3H-BK and GA-Z97X-UD5H-BK look to be real winners at $159 and $199.

 

[Disparia]

Cool.

Though these days I would have liked to see a bit more form-factor variety. There's two ITX boards, one Z97 and H97. The Z97 does make for good ATX and mATX boards given it's ability to do x8/x8 and x8/x4/x4. But their H97 line-up is 3 ATX boards, 1 mATX and 1 ITX when it seems like it should be the other way around.

 

[apertotes]

If your keyboard does not use an English layout, be careful with Gigabyte EasyTune software. It has built-in global shortcuts that are impossible to deactivate and will cause your computer to crash randomly, and will also invalidate several key combinations in you keyboard, like @, #, and €.

 

[Hilux SSRG]

Cool.

Though these days I would have liked to see a bit more form-factor variety. There's two ITX boards, one Z97 and H97. The Z97 does make for good ATX and mATX boards given it's ability to do x8/x8 and x8/x4/x4. But their H97 line-up is 3 ATX boards, 1 mATX and 1 ITX when it seems like it should be the other way around.

Gigabyte tends to add more variety after launch or when they release second revisions.

If your keyboard does not use an English layout, be careful with Gigabyte EasyTune software. It has built-in global shortcuts that are impossible to deactivate and will cause your computer to crash randomly, and will also invalidate several key combinations in you keyboard, like @, #, and €.

I've not heard of this issue, do you know if it can cause issues with mech keyoards?

 

[GhostRyder]

Those are some great looking boards, the gaming series reminds me of MSI's gaming series boards. Can't wait to see those new OC motherboard series of theirs, I wonder how much of an improvement will be had from the previous ones.

 

[apertotes]

I've not heard of this issue, do you know if it can cause issues with mech keyoards?

Yes, it does, I myself have a mechanical Spanish keyboard, and I am suffering those issues. I sent a ticket to Gigabyte support, and after much quarreling they showed me the finger and told me that their products are catered to North American users.

The only option to not have random crashes is not to use the Easy Tune software, which is a shame, since I liked it very much. I am really pissed off, because the motherboard itself (GA-Z87X-UD5H) is brilliant and works perfectly, but if I had known before purchasing it, I would have chosen an Asus or MSI.

 

[Hilux SSRG]

Yes, it does, I myself have a mechanical Spanish keyboard, and I am suffering those issues. I sent a ticket to Gigabyte support, and after much quarreling they showed me the finger and told me that their products are catered to North American users.

The only option to not have random crashes is not to use the Easy Tune software, which is a shame, since I liked it very much. I am really pissed off, because the motherboard itself (GA-Z87X-UD5H) is brilliant and works perfectly, but if I had known before purchasing it, I would have chosen an Asus or MSI.

I would have never thought the oc software could wreck havoc on a keyboard, thanks for sharing.

I have a US ANSI 104 layout with English and Chinese characters so that's safe but trying a DVORAK keyboard maybe out of the question. Way to go Gigabyte...

 

[apertotes]

I would have never thought the oc software could wreck havoc on a keyboard, thanks for sharing.

I have a US ANSI 104 layout with English and Chinese characters so that's safe but trying a DVORAK keyboard maybe out of the question. Way to go Gigabyte...

What is happening, apparently, is that EasyTune asigns ctrl+alt+(1-9) to some predefined profiles. Many non-english keyboards have a special key, "alt Gr" that is used in combination with other keys to provide special symbols, like @, |, € or #. That "alt Gr" key seems to be recognized as ctrl+alt, so when you use altGr+3 to type #, EasyTune thinks you are typing ctrl+alt+3 to set a profile.

The funniest thing is that is "feature" is completely obscure and they have not documented it at all, neither in the manual, or in their site, so nobody really uses it knowingly, specially since there is no way to know what profile sets each key combination. So they are screwing many European users without granting any significant benefit to their loved north American users that mostly ignore the feature.

The nail in the coffin is that one (or maybe several) of those profiles is bugged and causes a windows crash after a few seconds of being activated. It was really a b*tch troubleshooting the issue, I was simply browsing or writing and suddenly the computer would hang and not respond at all, having to force a reboot. After many days doing many things (including 2 complete windows reinstallations) I had an insight. The computer would crash right after trying to write an email, when my long time habit to press altGr+2 for @ activated whatever profile, and a few seconds later the computer would stop working.

Anyway, long story short, I had to uninstall EasyTune. Which I liked very much. And of course, I will never buy a gigabyte product again. Not because of the bug, but because of their deplorable customer support.

 

[the new normal]

Change the OC shortcut to the function keys instead of the numbers.

See 1:42 here